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[–] JewnnyAppleSeed ago  (edited ago)

The States are (almost) as restricted by the Bill of Rights as the Federal Government. As of 2010 SCOTUS has ruled that all but the Third Amendment apply to the states in part (that is, excluding the Fifth Amendment right to a grand jury, the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in civil cases, and the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment) or in whole. The Second Circuit has ruled that the Third also applies in full (and, interestingly, that national guardsmen are soldiers, not militia.)

The fact is that the States have no more Constitutional authority to infringe on the right to keep and bear arms than the Federal Government, and the federal government has none ("shall not be".) They would have to first amend or repeal the 14th to have the authority and anyone willing to do so would surely target the Second instead, lest Alabama round up all the niggers and ship them to Africa.

"Constitutional authority" is actually the wrong way of looking at it where states are concerned, come to think of it. The only body that derives its authority from the Constitution is the Federal Government. The States (as well as local governments) are expressly prohibited from infringing on any of the rights (excluding the four mentioned above, at the moment) enumerated in the Bill of Rights.